When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."

Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Mile High City

That has a nice ring to it, don't you think? It just sounds like a good place to have a baby. As we drove through the flat plains, through the rolling hills, and even into the rocky mountains, we were once again filled with excitement. This is the place we are going to create our baby! This is where our baby is going to spend it's first three to five days on this earth, before even being placed inside his own mother! But I approve. I like this place already. Besides, any city that has over 300 days of sunshine a year is okay by me.

As we pulled into CCRM I was already picking out baby names. Denver or Colorado or Aspen. Maybe even William, after our new famous doctor, Dr. William Schoolcraft. Or how about Lonetree? Okay, maybe not...

My nerves were in high gear as we checked in. The anticipation of all the procedures was overwhelming. But they greeted us with a smile, took us on a tour, and helped to ease my anxieties. But alas, we came here for tests, and tests were were going to get. It was too late to run screaming for the hills at this point. Fortunately these doctors and nurses are pros. They were a well oiled machine. They greeted us with a schedule for the day and herded us from one appointment to the next.

Even the hysteroscopy wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. They used gas to dilate my cervix, did a mock transfer, and inserted the camera without too much pain and cramping. Dr. Surrey was fast as he could be, and had the procedure done before I knew it. It was over. The thing I had been dreading all week, was behind me. Not only that but Dr. Surrey told me that my uterus looked great! The elusive Dr. Schoolcraft was out of town, so we weren't even able to meet the man that could be responsible for creating our future baby. But, no worries, he left us in good hands with Dr. Surrey and plans to do a follow-up call with us next week. For now I was just relieved to be given the news that I have a healthy, happy uterus. The blood flow from the Doppler was excellent. He saw no signs of distress during the hysteroscopy. We passed the first big test! And we were thrilled.

Next our nurse went through the in's and out's of the procedure with us, went over some sample calendars, and of course the mixing of the medications and injection training -- which Dave is already a pro at! We signed more consent forms than you do when you buy a house. And after two hours of instruction, we were tuckered out and ready to get on with the last step of the day -- my least favorite part, the dreaded blood tests! Some couples get matching tattoos. We get matching blood tests. Whaddya gonna do?

All in all, the one-day workup flew by and was not nearly as bad as I expected. Sure, we were poked and prodded, but we survived. And now we were done! They weighed us down with binders of information, blood shipping kits and instructions for several more tests to do at home -- an endometrial biopsy, day three blood work from my next cycle, a complete physical and breast exam. But we didn't care, we were done for today, and we were outta there! And there was still a couple of hours of sunlight left for us to explore with.

Neither of us have ever been in Denver before, so even though we were completely exhausted from our long hard day -- we decided to explore the area for a couple hours before dark. We took a short drive to Red Rock and walked around. It was stunning. And as we sat high above the city, looking down, we couldn't believe we did it. Our one day work-up was over, and we were now headed into a new IVF cycle with a renewed sense of hope.

Hello :) I found your blog from the link I check 1 zillion times a day- IVF Connections Colorado board! Like you, I have had two failed IVFs and this will be our last shot. Barring any last minutes changes, we will be headed to Colorado in early November. I hope that three times is the charm for both of us :)

About Me

We were married in 2000 and struggled with infertility for 5 years before finally finding success at CCRM. At 33, I was diagnosed with unexplained IF & hypothyroidism. Dave was 35, and diagnosed with MF with low motility/morphology. And our overall problem was poor embryo quality, even with IVF, none ever make it to blast. At 35, I was diagnosed with ASAB as well. We finally found success at CCRM in 2008, where we made our first blasts and got our first ever BFP! We got pregnant with twins, lost one, and ended up with one healthy baby boy!
5 months after he was born, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and I lost her 9 months later. The loss was devastating.
In 2011, we were back at CCRM for one last try for baby number 2, and ended with a second miracle, our precious baby girl.
My book INFERTILITY-LAND is available for download on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Infertility-Land-A-Roadmap-ebook/dp/B0057OBMRO
About 4 months after my daughter was born, I was wrongly diagnosed with PPD and was put on meds. This created a journey to hell and back with bad reactions and hideous withdrawal. I am now heading back to my super amazing happy love-filled life.